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The feds want your input on Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks

The Department of the Interior today announced the first ever formal public comment period for members of the public to officially weigh in on monument designations under the Antiquities Act of 1906, and the Department released a list of monuments un

The feds want your input on Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks

Pictured is a Organ Mountain-Desert Peaks National Monument sign posted along Dripping Springs Road on Tuesday, January 31, 2017. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce has requested newly inaugurated President Donald Trump to roll back the size of the monument.(Photo: Robin Zielinski/Sun-News)Buy Photo

LAS CRUCES — The Department of the Interior is asking the public to comment on the review of 27 national monument designations under the provisions of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, including the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte monuments in New Mexico.

A news release from the U.S. Department of the Interior stated this is the first formal public comment period for members of the public to weigh in on monument designations under the Antiquities Act of 1906.

President Donald Trump ordered the review last month, saying protections imposed by his three immediate predecessors amounted to “a massive federal land grab” that “should never have happened.”

A list released Friday includes 22 monuments on federal land in 11 states.

Trump accused President Barack Obama in particular of exploiting the 1906 Antiquities Act in an “egregious abuse of federal power,” adding that he was giving power “back to the states and to the people, where it belongs.”

Obama dedicated OMDP National Monument under the Antiquities Act in 2012.

"A public comment period is not required for monument designations under the Antiquities Act; however, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and President Trump both strongly believe that local input is a critical component of federal land management," according to the release.

Comments may be submitted online after May 12 at www.regulations.gov by entering “DOI-2017-0002” in the search bar or by mail to Monument Review, MS-1530, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.

The Department will soon publish a notice in the Federal Register officially opening the public comment period. Written comments relating to the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah must be submitted within 15 days of publication of that notice. Written comments relating to all other designations must be submitted within 60 days of that date.